Political commentary from the LA Times

Herman Cain found himself in hot water Monday with Latino Republicans after telling an audience that his solution to illegal immigration along the Mexican border would include a Great Wall of China-like electrified fence that would rise 20 feet high above a moat filled with alligators.

"We call on Herman Cain to drop his candidacy for president. His recent comments and lack of practical solutions to solving illegal immigration show he’s not a serious candidate," the Somos Republicans group wrote in a statement released Monday.

"Many Hispanics find his recent comments comparing immigrants to 'invading Huns' offensive, and also insensitive when thousands of immigrants died crossing the desert. We’re looking for practical and humane solutions, and find Cain’s pandering to xenophobes disgusting. Apparently nativist tea has been served up at many tea parties! Hispanics are a key swing vote, and whichever GOP candidate succeeds in winning the nomination cannot win the general election without the Hispanic vote. Cain needs to leave the field open to more serious candidates," Somos demanded.

Apparently the Arizona-based organization, which claims to be "the fastest growing Hispanic Republican group in the nation," was not impressed with the inspiration the former Godfather's Pizza chief executive received on a recent trip to Asia.

"I just got back from China," Cain told potential voters in Pella, Iowa, in early June. "Ever heard of the Great Wall of China? It looks pretty sturdy. And that sucker is real high. I think we can build one if we want to! We have put a man on the moon, we can build a fence!"

"Now, my fence might be part Great Wall and part electrical technology," Cain continued. "It will be a 20-foot wall, barbed wire, electrified on the top, and on this side of the fence, I'll have that moat that President Obama talked about. And I would put those alligators in that moat!"

Although the audience in Iowa applauded the Georgia businessman's plan, the Somos Republicans point at recent developments in the Peach state, and in their own, as proof that such actions won't work.

"One need only look at the worker shortages in Georgia and Arizona agriculture sectors to see the dire consequences of enforcement-only strategies that don’t address the needs of America’s economy," the group wrote, noting that "40% of Yuma Arizona’s lettuce crop went un-harvested after 100,000 Hispanics fled Arizona following passage of SB 1070, even though Yuma has unemployment rates rivaling those of the great depression. Georgia passed a similar law, and now farmers are struggling to find migrant farm workers and now must decide which crops to leave rot. According to a recent study by the Cato institute, for every farm worker in the field, another 3.1 workers depending upon their work," Somos wrote.

"Ironically the fast food industry is one of the sectors of our economy that is heavily dependent on undocumented immigrant workers, so we can’t help but wonder if Cain’s wealth from this industry was built on undocumented immigrant labor!" the group wrote.

Because the Cain speech in question was the same one in which he vowed that he wouldn't sign any bill more than three pages long, it will be interesting to see if the candidate will call the Somos Republicans "stupid" for believing that portion of the speech. Cain called reporters "idiotic" when they quoted him for saying that the American people should be able to read prospective laws at the dinner table and that if he became president he would instruct Congress "don't try to pass a 2,700-page bill."